Soccer Mountaineers look forward to next year

The Mohawk men and women Mountaineers completed their respective Ontario College Athletic Association soccer seasons with different outcomes against Humber.

The men stunned the high flying Hawks 6-3, but Humber won the women’s match 4-0 at Mohawk Sports Park on Wednesday(October 15).

In the men’s game, Hassan Hamed scored two more goals, giving him eight for the season. Singles went to Matt Kernick, Matt Luison, Roberto Del Rosario and Mohamed Karbous.

It was quite a finale for the Mountaineers, who finished the season out of the playoffs with a 3-7-2 record, while Humber, which finished second in the Central West Division, saw their record end up 9-3.

Mohawk head coach Richard Bennett was very pleased how his rookie laden team finished the campaign. “They went out to have some fun today”, said Bennett, “They were more relaxed and had a good start with a couple of quick goals and set the pace for, basically, the outcome of the game. They were totally ready to play today.”

Bennett said the win was a good end to the season. Now it’s a case of hitting the books and hoping that everyone can come back next year and the team can move on.

Although they lost to the 8-0-2 Hawks and finished with a 2-7-1 record, the Mohawk women’s team is in a situation similar to the men. As they look forward to next season, coach Renzo Castellani, felt his team played very well in its last game. But once Mohawk allowed some preventable goals, a problem which occurred often during the season. Castellani is already thinking about next year when most of his players will be going into their second seasons with some experience under their belts.

“At the end of the game I counted nine rookies on the field”, said Castellani, “They pushed well and really looked good. So for next year, if we stay healthy, which was our biggest problem this year, we’re going to look like a different team.”